Can Seattle’s New Police Chief Nominee Make a Difference?

Last night, there was a hearing for the new police chief nominee, Kathleen O’Toole. It was hosted in South Seattle, and I was glad to see that there was a good turnout to provide testimony and ask her and other council members to address their concerns.

Below are my prepared notes for my testimony:

My name is Jen Kelly and I am a resident of downtown Seattle and the co-chair for Downtown Seattle Families – a group of parents who advocate to make downtown Seattle a wonderful, SAFE place to live.

Part of the reason that we founded this group was the strong growth that we’re seeing downtown – with the number of families increasing by 35% since 2000.

This means that more than 1/5th of households in downtown Seattle now have children. That is great. But it could be better.

I am mom to a 2 year old daughter, and have lived in the heart of Pioneer Square for almost 6 years. We love our city and we love the things that our child gets to experience because of where we live (the waterfront, the aquarium, the SAM, and more).

But there are also many things we don’t love that make us question our choice to live where we live.

On our daily walks through our neighborhood, it doesn’t take long for my daughter and me to see violence, drug use, drug sales, public intoxication, public urination, aggressive panhandling and more. Although there are many people on our street that we don’t consider unsafe, there is often a more dangerous element that is unpredictable and feels unmonitored. I recognize that this is just part of a larger problem, but action on what’s considered low level crime, is high impact on the ever prevalent perceptions of Pioneer Square. And what has quickly become our daily reality.

Just this week, I was walking in front of my building with my daughter and three nieces, and a very drunk woman jumped in front of them and right next to their faces, started yelling “Jesus loves you!” and tried to give the girls “gifts” out of her box of goods. They were terrified. And that is a mild example of what we see on a regular occurrence.

I know that it can get better. And I would love to stay in my neighborhood in downtown Seattle. But families like ours will only stay if things get better than they are now. If we can get our city to a place that feels safe for children and families, it will feel safe for everyone. I look forward to seeing what you can do for this city.

Thank you.

I would love to hear if you have similar (or differing!) thoughts on the matter. We have an opportunity with a new police chief to start a new conversation. If there can be changes made on the enforcement side that tie in with changes on the legal side, we may be able to see things get better. But so far, in my time on one of the more challenging blocks on Pioneer Square, we have only seen things get progressively worse.